We have been notified from readers of Cruise Law News that a passenger has gone overboard from the Royal Caribbean Rhapsody of the Seas.

The cruise ship was reportedly 550 kilometres east of Brisbane on a trip from Sydney to the South Pacific.

The P&O's Pacific Pearl cruise ship was involved in the recovery of the body.

We have reported often that cruise ships do not have automatic man-overboard alarms to detect passengers and crew who go overboard.

If this case, according to the local press, the man was seen falling into the sea around 2:00 AM, but he was not rescued. The cruise line claims that crew members "immediately threw life rings and marker smoke into the water, turned the ship around and launched rescue boats," but this has not been verified by a passenger on board.

We have not yet received details from any passengers regarding exactly what happened or how the cruise ship responded.

His body was located approximately 7 and one-half hours later, at 9:30 AM.

If you have information, photographs or video regarding this incident, please contact us.

I dont think a passenger will give accurate details of the incident unless witnessed the fall overboard. I believe this is a serious webpage!

Grant -
December 28, 2013 2:28 PM

Just to clarify, we were on the Pearl who, also assisted in the search. The resque was handled very professionally by all involved. Its a big ocean and looking for a bobbing head in the middle of the night is not easy.

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